Turkish inflation slows to 52% in August – official data

(FILES) A teller counts US dollar bills at an exchange office in Ankara on July 20, 2023. – Turkey’s annual inflation rate slowed further in August to 52 percent after reaching 61.8 percent in July, official data showed on September 3, 2024. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP)

Istanbul, Turkey — Turkey’s annual inflation rate slowed further in August to 52 percent after reaching 61.8 percent in July, official data showed on Tuesday.

The central bank began to raise interest rates last year in an effort to battle soaring prices, after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dropped his opposition to orthodox monetary policy.

Turkey’s annual inflation rate reached a decades-long high of 85 percent in October 2022.

READ: Turkish inflation falls to 61.78% in July

It fell to 38.2 percent in June 2023 before rising again. It reached 75 percent in May this year but started to fall in June.

The biggest price rises in August were in education, at 120.8 percent, housing at 101.5 percent, and hotels and restaurants at 67.7 percent, according to the Turkish statistics institute.

On a month-to-month comparison, consumer prices rose 2.5 percent in August.

A central bank survey of investors has forecast that inflation would reach 43.3 percent by late 2024.

The government avoided raising the minimum wage in July in efforts to tame inflation. It had raised it in the previous two years.

Independent economists say Turkish inflation is higher than official estimates and has reached 90.35 percent.